Falling For You
by Yumeko
Summary: Precis, bringing Ashton along, continues to search for a Love Potion to give to Claude before his marriage to Rena. But, Ashton and Precis get closer than they'd though. Chapter 3 up! ^^ R/r, onegai shimasu.
1. chapter 1 prelude

~falling for you~  
by yumeko  
  


** (disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Star Ocean, so don't be stupid enough to sue me. Not like you'll get anything from it...)**  
  
Like any other ordinary day, it started off with breakfast, school, experiment, sleep. Precis, in the beginning, became very restless of this… trivial and customary thing, but soon, what else could she do around there? Ever since the group split up, she was downright BORED!!!!  
  
Heck, nothing ever HAPPENED that came to emergency. She had summer break again, which to one, would sound like the only good thing in the year, but for Precis it was simply another excuse to finish up her unique experiments. This soon no longer became 'unique'. She had almost reached the end to her minds limits. She wanted adventure again! She wanted wander, rover, travel! Get ideas from that! Reminding herself regretfully that Claude was going to tell her what a 'computer' was…  
  
And for once, in this slowly-becoming-indifferent life, Graft came in with the mail ("Wow, when was the last time he picked up the mail?" Precis asked her self, bewildered.)  
  
"Bill, bill, bill… ooh, this is mine…" he muttered and tucked it away, as Precis perked a brow. She would sneak a look at it later. "Bill, bill… Fancy letter? Precis, it's for you!"  
  
Precis sprung to her feet, and snatched it out of his hands.  
  
"WOW, REALLY!??!?!?!?! THAT'S SOOO TOTALLY UNCOMMON!!"  
  
"Young lady, you MUST learn some manners-"  
  
Beeeeep…  
  
Precis had gone down to her room.  
  
Graft only shook his head and went back to creating a "TV".  
  
~*~  
  
  
"_Come to our wedding!_" the title read on the neat and smooth letter.  
  
Wedding?? Wedding????? Chisato and Dias or something, I bet…  
  
"_Miss Rena Lanford and Claude Kenni will be having a wedding on the--_"  
  
Precis paused, heart stopped, blood drained from face, pulse cease…  
  
_NOT CLAUDE! ANYONE BUT THAT HUNK OF LOVE!!!! WHY!?!? WHY?!?!?!?!?_ She despaired silently; looking odd to one's eyes.  
  
_Well, eventually they WOULD end up together_, argued another voice in her head…  
  
_But, Claude is sooooo hott! IT CAN'T BEEEE!!!!! LOSING… strength…_  
  
_You know that Claude is in love with Rena and Rena-_  
  
But, from there, Precis had ignored the little voice, and began creating her own vicious plans to win Claude over…  
  
_Claude already is in love with Rena. Must be something… automatic…. Magic?? Magic would work. But, I never inherited magic powers… I have power, yes, power! _(She held up her SDGUA Punch)_ But… Rena and everyone else would never forgive me, and call me the 10 Wise Men or something…_  
  
The good, angelic voice in her head said, Okay? Are you listening???  
  
But evil, malicious, voice (…I suppose like the angel-devil people who sit on there shoulders and say stuff) went on…  
  
"Potion…"  
  
Silence.  
  
Suddenly, she had an idea. After all, she IS a genius 17-Year-Old and, she could find out how a potion worked, and that didn't require magic, just ingredients, and she could deal with ingredients, and that was easy so… so it was all swell! Just _SPIFFY_! Make the love potion, make your man drink it, _WHAM_! You got your man!  
  
_"Precis… I-I never realized how much I loved you…"  
  
"Oh Claude, I love you too… but… how could you leave me for Rena???"  
  
"Rena? Rena? I only think of you…" he said softly, elegantly taking her hand into his own, strong and trained, and caressing those soft lips against it. And all the while, those deep blue eyes filled with passion for her… Only her!  
  
"Oh, Claude!"  
  
"Precis!"  
  
Suddenly, it was nighttime and the stars glittered for them, and the moon put a warm spotlight on the happy couple. They embraced, lips touched, and the words, "Happily Ever After" fell above them._  
  
"Precis?"  
  
"Claude!"  
  
She turned suddenly to meet her fathers face.  
  
"Ah-PAPA!"  
  
He stared then continued.  
  
"What's that letter about? Is that another letter you sent to yourself, that you labeled 'Claude' again???"  
  
"WHAT!??! NO!!!! I don't know what you're talking about…" she managed, turning away from her dad's taunting face.  
  
"What's the letter then?"  
  
"It's REALLY none of-" she blinked. "Well, I haven't read it yet. Need to read it in private, you know…"  
  
The father stared at her, getting the hint, but not wanting to take it. But, if he didn't, she'd probably start a tantrum about being grown up and stuff or something…  
  
After he went back up the elevator, Precis looked through the letter quickly, wanting to get back to her eeeevil plan.  
  
_ Who: Rena Lanford and Claude Kenni  
When: January 1st  
Where: Village Of Arli  
Why: Marriage and love! ^_^_  
  
Precis winced. How disgusting.  
  
As she packed up her dolls, and clothes, and mechanics, and Bobot (version 6.0!), and comics, and pictures, and her ever-so-secret-picture-of-Claude, she thought, Where do I get a recipe for a LOVE potion???  
  
She sat there, thinking in brooding silence…  
  
Spells are…in books… In intelligent thick books, like mechanical books except for it made no sense to the likes of her…  
  
But, where could you find lots n' lots of books?  
  
The oh-so-difficult answer took its precious time to float out of Precis's mouth.  
  
"Library… University… In this TOWN………"  
  
One could imagine a rock being thrown at her to turn on the light bulb waiting patiently to be clicked on…   
  
_ Click!_  
  
Precis scooped Bobot between her arms, and whacked the Up button, impatiently and fervidly. She stepped out immediately and ran past her father, and out the door, stumbling over herself in excitement.  
  
"Precis?!?!?! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!?!?!"  
  
"Out!" she said a second, and gone in another.  
  
** (a/n: Hey, I never intended on actually posting this [thus, notice the very original title] , but I can see a fluffy plot coming out of it. Please r/r and tell me what you think. I'll try to mention anyone who reviews to thank them... )**


	2. chapter 2 reunion

~falling for you~  
by yumeko  


  
**(disclaimer: refer to chapter 1 if it's that important.)**  
  
The young girl walked tirelessly, but sore, on the dirt pathway with Bobot who was stumbling to keep up with her fast paces forward.  
  
Precis obviously had kept her stamina and adrenaline up by simply remembering this was a journey for LOVE! Love for Claude! To triumph over evil! And to show the world that Precis was pursing her love!  
  
_Love, love, love…_ she thought to her self with delight.  
  
As she chanted mentally or sometimes even sang out "Love!" she began to notice her legs began to burn with ache and every step was heavier and heavier. Suddenly, she stopped for a moment on the road and called out to no one, "I'm tired!!!"  
  
Bobot tripped at her abrupt movement, and then looked up to blink at Precis.  
  
The girl sighed miserably. Looking around, she realized she wasn't near Hilton at all. Not at all. But, in the distance there was the Castle, Lacour… Yes! She could take a break there! Just a break of course, she couldn't sleep at the hotels, which were usually expensive.  
  
But, the sun was setting. And she had to save her money for food and maybe a souvenir.   
  
"ARGH!" she shrieked to no one, once more. This was all… all whoever ripped out the darn page's fault! She had climbed the TALLEST ladder to get to the TALLEST shelf and reached out to get the BIGGEST book there and she flipped through for her Love Potion, or Aphrodite's Kiss, and when she flipped there, the only thing showing of a Love Potion was a cleanly ripped portion of the page with nothing useful showing on it.  
  
She blew air out her mouth. But, Precis had said she would go to Mars for info there. And her father did argue about it, but she was the one who said it was a journey for love… And he simply sighed and said, "I can't stop you, can I?"  
  
And which there was a mushy farewell, just like on her first adventure, between her father and herself. She did not feel like remembering that part.  
  
With another sigh, she looked over to her mechanical companion and said, "Well, the only thing to do is to keep going, right?"  
  
Bobot did not reply, for he had gone into screensaver mode, which was taking a nap.  
  
Precis stared at him for quite a while and had an idea. This was going to help her a LOT. Why didn't she think of this before? This was going to make this MUCH more easier. But, she hoped she still had the skill…   
  
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then shrieked, "HEY BARNEY!!!!!!!!!"   
  
Nothing.  
  
She felt herself begin to burn with anger once more and MUCH more vigorously screamed out this time, letting the echo reach all around the hills, "_BARNEY, YOU BETTER GET OVER HERE, YOU STUPID, STUPID, IDIOTIC RABBIT BEFORE I SHOVE THIS CONTRAPTION UP YOUR--_"  
  
The next thing she knew a colossal bunny came bouncing over. It was pink, quite fluffy, and did not… well; it wasn't the smartest looking thing around. But, it was big enough to have up to 12 people, at the most, on his back.   
  
The bunny smiled in an idiotic, yet cute, content way at Precis. Precis smiled back being content with the fact she no longer had to walk.  
  
She climbed onto his back, carrying Bobot in her arms. God, it had been a long time since she had ridden on him. That's probably why the bunny smiled! The only time they had ridden on him was before they had to save the universe. And she remembered how much Noel had freaked out to see one face-to-face, instead of at the races, and loved that thing like a child.  
  
She put her memories behind her and headed for Lacour castle, whistling all the way.  
  
~*~  
  
Ashton Anchors was an unlucky man.   
  
He seemed to be like this since the beginning of his life. He could've said he was cursed because of 2 dragons, one blue and one red. They both were named Gyoro and Ururun, by one of his friends, which they saved the world together.   
  
Well, at least he had saved the world with his friends… No, mainly Claude did. Claude was lucky. First off, he did not have two dragons stuck on his back. And he had a major past and problem with him, which probably set the journey in the first place. And Claude had most of the girls in love with him. Although, everyone in the group could tell, Claude and Rena were made for each other. And Ashton thought it was fine, even romantic… Which guy in this world called a pairing "romantic"? He sighed at his differences.  
  
Well, everyone in the group could tell Claude and Rena were a couple except a certain hyper girl. Yes, it was Precis. Even if Claude and Rena were making out, Precis would probably do something to get between them, and then forget about it and hang all over poor Claude the next day. But, by the time they had returned to Expel, Precis… well, she did not like Rena.  
  
But, Precis was still actually rather cute. You know, the way she got angry, the way she was suddenly happy, how she would whine…   
  
_There he goes again, Ururun, thinking about Precis. God, if you love her so much, then marry her!_  
  
_Quiet Gyoro! But, I must admit Ashton; you do tend to think about her a lot._  
  
Ashton, not for the first time in his life, turned a bright red and yelled out loud, "Stop listening to my thoughts! It's rude! And when I think of Precis THAT way it's not… not that I'm in love with her!"  
  
Everyone in the bar looked up at him at stared.  
  
His blush darkened and he apologized to everyone there and dashed out.  
  
Ashton sighed. He had made an ass of himself and not for the first time in his life. But, there was no changing it. The customary thing would happen; Gyoro could care less and Ururun would apologize for what they did.  
  
_We apologize Ashton_, Ururun said hastily. _For making you yell like that, rather suddenly._  
  
_You see that one guy staring at you? He was about to laugh. Now, _that_ is quite funny._  
  
_GYORO!!!!_, the blue dragon snapped at the snickering red one.  
  
Ashton just let his head droop and said, "Yeah, whatever…"  
  
By the time Ashton looked up, he was already in front of Lacour's hotel, where he would be temporarily staying. Everywhere he went was temporary. He just didn't have one place to stay home to. But, he had enough sulking today, so he headed straight in.  
  
As soon as he stepped in, he heard a familiar, high, cute, complain-y voice talking-arguing with someone.  
  
He blinked at the site and the words just came barely off his tongue.  
  
"Precis?"  
  
~*~  
  
"EXCUSE ME. But, I have money, so I am a PAYING customer, now give me my room key!" the girl said, her voice level increasing rapidly and acridly.   
  
"Sorry, but once again, I need to see you with a guardian. Now leave me alone, will you? It's getting late."  
  
"WHAT!? I'm 18 years old. 18!!!!!!" Precis shrieked.  
  
The man at the counter began to get nervous, "Well, you certainly don't look it. You are rather short. And don't scream, I might get complaints you know--I barely got this job…"  
  
"I don't CARE if you get fired! You DESERVE to get fired. I bet you got fired LOTS of times. And I AM 18! And you think I'm too young! And I'm SURE an 18-year old can handle it! I'm PAYING too! So, why should it matter!?! Don't jerks like you just want to get paid?!"  
  
The man flinched at her words as if they were true. He countered with his sharp tongue, exclaiming, "FIRST OFF, with YOUR attitude, I don't think I'll EVER let someone like you into this hotel and second off you little--"  
  
"She's with me."  
  
The both turned to see the tall, dark haired, man with his two dragons behind him. Or rather, attached to him.  
  
"Oh… Ashton", the man at the register said lightly.  
  
Precis, on the other hand, mouth dropped a bit open. Her emerald eyes lit up at the sight of him. And she turned to the man at the counter and said, "Well, of course I'm with him!"  
  
Ashton smiled nervously, and placed his hand on Precis's hair and said smoothly, "Yes, my sister is visiting me. Right, Precis?"  
  
Precis smiled nervously as well, and said, "Yup, that's right bro!"   
  
The two gave a very fake family light off and the man suspected it greatly. But, he let the tired side of him let it go, anyway. "Fine. Just… just get out of my sight, now, alright?"  
  
Precis scooped Bobot up in her arms, and hurried up to catch up with her "bro", who was walking rather hastily.  
  
Of course, not before sticking out her tongue and the stubborn man.  
  
  
**(a/n: Yay! Reviews! I love you guys. Special thanks to my reviewers:  
  
**White Witch - ^^; Yes, Precis does tend to act like she owns Claude. And that's why she goes so well with Ashton. Way too many hints they go together! I'd love to read any fanfics that come up by you. Thanks!  
  
Reflections - Thanks for the review! I hope I did catch Precis's personality. @_@;  
  
PrEttY_in_YeLLoW - Yeah, I hope the plot goes well. Lotsa fluff. Thanks!**  
  
One does not know how much reviews make a novice author happy. Oh, by the way, it's two years later in this fanfic, so that's why she's 18.  
  
Well, I will continue to try to mention all those that review. Please keep r/r-ing.)  
**


	3. chapter 3 one bed

~falling for you~  
by yumeko  


  
**(disclaimer: refer to chapter 1 if it's that important.)**  
  
First, it was at silence they walked together down the long hallway to their rooms. Of course, that silence did not linger any longer when Precis bounded up to Ashton happily letting out a stream of questions.  
  
"Wow! Ashton! It's been such a loooooong time!! I'm so happy seeing you again! How are you? Why are you here? Did you do anything about Gyoro and Ururun? How are they? Do you know anything about love potions? I've been walking to Lacour for-EVER! Well, not walking on one part but then…"  
  
Ashton quietly closed the door behind him and turned to Precis, who was already bouncing energetically on the bed.  
  
"Precis… one at a time…"  
  
She smiled apologetically at him and apologized.  
  
He smiled back. God, did he miss seeing such a happy smile. Something he'd never be able to conjure up himself. "Well, first off… It's really… really nice to see you again."  
  
"Missed me?" she said with even a bigger grin.  
  
He turned toward this bathroom as not to show his face turning a light hue of red. "Yeah… Well, um, why are you here?"  
  
"Mouuu, well… I'll get to that later. Why you are YOU here?"  
  
He blinked and thought temporarily to himself. "Still just traveling around."  
  
"Oh? Don't you ever get tired of traveling around? Why don't you just settle home? Do your parents allow you to travel around?"  
  
He gave a mild chuckle with a small smile, depression pulling at them and said very quietly, "No, I don't have a home or family to stay at."  
  
Precis gave a look of mild surprise and decided not to ask any further. Once again, she was being a brat, prying into people's business…   
  
_ I've never really known Ashton._  
  
"Oh, sorry for asking…" she murmured softly, and hung her head in guilt.  
  
Ashton looked up and noticed immediately. Not wanting to have made her smile disappear, he quickly added in "But, I do stay at Eleanor's place time to time. They're sort of like a family to me, but personally I feel like I do intrude their family space, so, the only reason I come is when I absolutely need to, and Eleanor seems quite content when I come, though…"  
  
Precis looked up, stared and said, "Who's Eleanor?"  
  
He blushed once more, "Oh… She's the little girl at Herlie with the sickness a long time ago and we went out to save her by getting that plant, remember?"  
  
She looked up thoughtfully. "I… think I remember…"  
  
"Well, Rena was the one who was with me when I met her…"  
  
"Really…" she muttered silently. Then she suddenly looked up and him and said "Oh, yeah! The reason I'm passing by here is for love potions!!"  
  
Ashton stared. "What?"  
  
She giggled slightly and continued, "Well, I'm really heading for Mars, you know, to get the ingredients for a potion, but I have to stop here because it was getting late, even though I had to ride Barney, but Barney kept stopping and sniffing stuff. It's really annoying because he NEVER did that when we use to ride him."  
  
"Claude and Noel were mainly the ones who led him around…"  
  
"But, I swear, the bunny liked you too!"  
  
Ashton grimaced at memories, "Yeah… but… it wasn't really comfortable riding him…" He promptly changed the subject, "Wait, why do you need a love potion?"  
  
"YEAH!" Precis exclaimed. "Here, look at this…" she muttered as she swung her bag off her shoulder, dug around in it for a few moments and then pulled out a card with some very neat handwriting. She placed it in Ashton's hand.  
  
"Read!"  
  
He did as she commanded, quickly skimmed over it and said evenly, "Oh, Claude and Rena are finally getting married?"  
  
"Yeah! Isn't it disgusting?!" she cried out.  
  
He stared at her for a moment, and then things quickly came together.  
  
"Oh… the love potion is for Claude, right?"  
  
"That's right!"  
  
"Still in love with Claude?" he said with a mild smile.  
  
It was her turn to blush. "Um, um, what if I am?"  
  
He chuckled and then said, "Well, if you need the ingredients, you can check the library here."  
  
"Wha? There's a library here?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, in the Lacour castle. I mean, I think it's public, but we could get permission from Leon if it's not."  
  
She gasped. "That's right Ashton! You can come with me when I go! You want to, right?"  
  
He blinked quietly at the invitation, not showing the blithe in his heart building and said with a smile, "Oh… of course. Why not?"  
  
"Great!" she said, and then yawned, letting herself fall on the bed. "Aah, I'm tiiiired…"  
  
"You can sleep on the bed then…" He realized he had rented a room for only one. "I'll just sleep on the chair or something."  
  
"What? No way! You can sleep in this bed with me!"   
  
He saw this coming. "Um, no, it's alright Precis, I've done so before…"  
  
"C'mon, Ashton, you've done so much to me already! It's not like I bite or anything, anyway."  
  
Gyoro and Ururun, who were jadedly ignoring the conversation, jumped in suddenly.  
  
_ Ashton, I really don't like it when you sleep on the floor OR the chair. We tend to get squeezed back here… And choked. It's not a comfortable feeling._  
  
_ Besides_, Gyoro added in jauntily, _You know you want to sleep in that bed with Precis._  
  
"SHUT UP!" he screamed at the dragons, with a mix of fury and embarrassment, but red all the while.  
  
Precis stared. "Ashton?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, the dragons were saying something rude…" he added hastily. His damn dragons, always making a fool of him…  
  
"Well, if you don't want to…" she said with a pout. A very cute pout, at that. "Do you not like me or something?" Her eyes began to shine with the warning of tears.  
  
"No! No! Nothing like that!" He sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright, just let me brush my teeth…"  
  
"Okay! I'm gonna go change in my pajamas!"  
  
Eventually, Ashton came out of the bathroom, his teeth brushed and his eyes met the sight of Precis quietly snoring on the bed.  
  
He truly did not want to look like a lovesick boy, but she did look like a young angel, sleeping peacefully on the clouds.  
  
_ Oh yeah, she sure does… Why don't you kiss her right about now?_  
  
"Gyoro… Shut up." Ashton said under in breath, gritting his teeth.  
  
The red dragon briskly ignored his threat and fell asleep (automatically?) with Ururun.  
  
Ashton had never known a time in his life where we was nervous to fall asleep, next to the first night with Gyoro and Ururun. But, as he laid down next to Precis (which was, fortunately, a large bed) he felt the acids in the bottom of his stomach churn.  
  
He was lying on his side (he had to), facing Precis. Her gentle breathing seemed to capture him for a while. Just watching her sleep, made him quite content, and he quietly was lulled to sleep.  
  
Not before something kicked him.  
  
Or rather knee him. He quickly opened his eyes and saw that Precis had kneed him very close between his legs… She then flopped over before Ashton could do anything.  
  
_ Well, that was weird…_ he thought to himself.  
  
But, as he tried to bring himself to sleep again, he felt Precis began kicking her legs out and found Ashton's stomach.  
  
"That's…mine… Let go…!" Precis muttered, and flopped over the other way.  
  
He groaned. God, she could kick hard. He quickly readjusted onto the bed and tried to sleep properly, staying his distance away from the violent sleep talker.  
  
"Claude…"  
  
He opened his eyes to see Precis, hugging the pillow (although, by now, the pillows were just about everywhere…).  
  
"Claude…Rena?"  
  
Precis then began kicking around once more, half screaming inaudible things and again, met Ashton's stomach. But, this time, it forced him off the bed and onto the floor with a loud _THUMP_.  
  
Ashton groaned even louder, holding his stomach. But, for some reason, Gyoro and Ururun remained dead asleep. He sighed. He wasn't very sleepy anymore. But, he climbed onto the bed and stayed as far as he could from Precis.  
  
The abused boy looked at the "peaceful angel" edgily, hoping not to get jabbed/kicked/forced off the bed. As he stared, the girl abruptly grabbed at him, and hugged him.  
  
"…Who are you…?"  
  
Ashton blushed furiously. He should just pry her off, but she might wake up, but… What was she dreaming about?  
  
Precis dug her head even deeper into his chest. Ashton did not respond. It was probably some dream about Claude, but what did she mean by "Who are you?". But, right about now, he was very stiff with red. Although, how could he deny he was comfortable right now?  
  
As moments passed, she did not violently fight in her sleep anymore, or anything else to bring him closer.  
  
_ Would it be so bad if I just held her a little?_  
  
He brought his arms slowly around her… Then he was pushed off the bed. The last thing he heard before he hit the ground again was, "EWW, NOEL!?!?!"  
  
He laid on the ground, wearily for a few moments in defeat.  
  
"I give up." He mumbled, grabbed a pillow, tucked it under his head, rolled on his side and fell promptly asleep.  
  
  
**(a/n: ;-;! Oh my! Reviews! One does not know how much that encourages me.** **Special thanks:  
  
**Diana - ::Huggles:: ^^ Yes! Ashton and Precis! Sankyuu!  
  
Reflections - x3 Yes, bunny ownz. I didn't want Precis to take forever to meet Ashton, so... Thanks for reviewing! ^^  
  
White Witch - Yesh, I didn't want them to take forever to meet. I'd certainly review and check out anything you write, although, lately I've been really busy. I will try to keep writing though! Thank you!  
  
raistlin majere - xD Yay! THanks! I'm hoping I can keep Precis in character. ::Thumbs up:: I will keep writing on, nee?  
  
Kasu-chan - Aww, thanks for reviewing... I'll be SURE to keep writing.  
  
**Araa, please keep reviewing. I've been busy, but I'm trying... So, you can probaly tell this is more filler and short, but the plot'll move in the next chapter, I swear.  
  
Once more, thanks. I will continue to mention those who review! And for more AshtonxPrecis sweetness, collect the Star Ocean: Second Story manga! ^^ Keep r/r-ing pleaase?)  
**


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